UPDATE: Additional information is coming to light about Terry Thompson and how badly he mistreated his animals. It reinforces the heart-breaking decision local law enforcement made. Not only were the potentially deadly animals not socialized, they were probably poorly fed. They were hungry. That is a lethal combination.

“…Thompson had been ejected several times from annual pet fairs in Zanesville because he would bring cuddly looking bear cubs that would snarl and growl at visitors, Hostetler said. Thompson bred animals on the farm.

“These animals were not socialized, and they were not tame enough to be around the public and he had to be removed from the property,” he said. “He has hired people off and on, but they usually didn’t last very long. The animals were not fed properly, they didn’t receive proper medical care, their pens were less than desired, I guess you could say. It was enough to be within the law,” he said.

“It’s very sad,” he added. Hanna said lax laws allowed collectors to keep animals in marginal conditions. There is also no refuge or repository to place large, dangerous animals that are confiscated. “The problem is the dealers. You have to figure out where people are buying these animals,” many of which are endangered species, he said.
Hanna said authorities did the right thing in killing the freed animals on the loose because they were dangerous…”

ORIGINAL POST: Eighteen tigers have been put down. This is not about the incident, but the idiots who have made idiotic comments, showing their abject lack of human decency.

If this had not happened in reality and were a movie script, no one would believe it. What is worse are some of the comments so called “animal lovers” are making. I think the fact that so many big cats were killed was a tragedy. But, what is far worse is the fact that there are animal rights people out there who are actually advocating it is better for an innocent child to have been killed if it would have saved an animal’s life.

The worst part of this, to The Pink Flamingo, is the fact that there are so very many people in this country who don’t understand the difference between the human life and animal life. I am a bleeding heart when it comes to animals. I’m the one who feeds every stray cat in the neighborhood. I’ve rescued numerous cats. Treat my poodle like a baby.

But….

There is a difference between a domestic animal and an exotic animal. Their behavior is different. They cannot be domesticated. Anyone who has followed the story about people keeping exotic pets has known something like this was going to happen. To foolishly blame the state of Ohio, the governor, the local cops, or Jack Hanna is simply immoral and abjectly unethical.

CBS

Jack Hanna has proven why he’s such a great advocate for animals. He is sticking up for people! It is “human life verses animal life”.

“The guy was depressed and he loved the animals that much, maybe,” Hanna said.

Thompson’s wife has spoken to authorities and is arriving today to talk the Sherriff’s department “about the existing animals,” Lutz said.

Thompson, 61, was recently released from prison after serving one year on federal weapons charges. According to investigators he has been cited in the past for animal abuse and neglect.

Hanna and his vets visited the farm today, calling conditions deplorable. He plans to take all five living animals to the Columbus Zoo.

Lutz said at a news conference that residents should stay inside until the animals, which escaped around 6 p.m. Tuesday, are rounded up. Several schools across the area have cancelled classes for today.

Police, who have been ordered to shoot to kill, describe the loose animals as “mature, very big and aggressive.”

“These are wild animals, wild animals that you would see on TV in Africa,” Lutz said at a news conference Tuesday evening.

Lutz said the Sheriff’s dept has been aware of animal farm for several years, and that it “has been a huge problem.”

Hanna, who is also well-acquainted with the preserve, vowed, “I’m not the governor but I’ll do everything I can over my dead body to put these people out of business.”

The animals were kept in cages that looked similar to a giant “wire dog pen,” Lutz said….”

This is the stupid discussion from Hot Air.

Hot Air

“…“We just had a huge tiger — an adult tiger, I’m estimating 300 pounds — that was very aggressive. We did get one of the vets close enough, unbelievably so, within 10 to 15 yards, got a tranquillizer in it, and this thing just went crazy and started to take off and headed away from us to the wooded area, and our officers put it down,” he said.

“I just got done talking to the governor’s office ten minutes ago,” Hanna said. “[Former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland] signed a bill to make these laws much stricter, it was headed over to [Republican Gov. John Kasich]. The problem is who enforces the laws? Who are the people that go out and inspect these places… I’ll do anything I can over my dead body to put these people out of business, to shut these auctions down.”

He added: “By the way, the sheriff did the right thing. I know we have animal rights groups giving me threatening calls right now, all sorts of things. ‘My gosh, Jack Hanna is saying this.’ What was he supposed to do at nighttime with tigers and lions and leopards go out there? In the wild, this would be a different situation.”…”

DIspatch

You think conservatives are scary? Try this comment from a liberal at Raw Story.

Raw Story

The most revealing part of this is the fact that these idiot liberals never even bothered to actually read the story, or actually follow the information as to what happened. All that mattered was a tiger was shot when it was trying to attack an evil human.

I don’t know which is worse, their ignorance or their abject disregard for the sanctity of human life – oh wait – these are liberals.

Raw Story

“…It was not immediately clear how Thompson managed to support the preserve and for what purpose it was operated, since it was not open to the public. But Thompson had appeared on the “Rachael Ray Show” in 2008 as an animal handler for a zoologist guest, said show spokeswoman Lauren Nowell.

The sheriff’s office started getting calls Tuesday evening that wild animals were loose just west of Zanesville. Deputies went to the animal preserve and found Thompson dead and all the cages open. Several aggressive animals were near his body and had to be shot, the sheriff said.

Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Merry was among the first to respond Tuesday. He said he shot a number of animals, including a gray wolf and a black bear. He said the bear charged him and he fired his pistol, killing it with one shot when it was about 7 feet away.

“All these animals have the ability to take a human out in the length of a second,” said Merry, who called himself an animal lover but said he knew he was protecting the community.

“What a tragedy,” said Barb Wolfe, a veterinarian with The Wilds, a nearby zoo-sponsored wild animal preserve. She said she managed to hit a tiger with a tranquilizer dart, but the animal charged toward her and then turned and began to flee before the drug could take effect, and deputies shot the big cat….”

NY Times

Scroll down these comments. Evidently it would be fine for one of the big cats to have killed a child. People are so sick at times.

CBS

Dispatch

NYTimes

What is rather surprising is that some of the saner comments came from the liberal Huffington Post.

Darwinian myth has led too many people to a state of complete confusion about Man v. beast. And yet, Man so often displays barely superior brain capacity than that of the animals. I would venture that the blogosphere and social networks could be vastly improved by an animal takeover.

Jack Hanna is a hero, and he is putting his fame and standing to good use as a spokesman for reason and sanity and common sense (a gift from God, when put to use). I hope this incident will now lead to intelligent, Man-friendly and beast-friendly changes in law across the country. There are more Zanesvilles waiting to happen… this was a warning and Man got off easy.

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"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”--Sinclair Lewis

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SJ Reidhead (aka The Pink Flamingo) is a writer based in New Mexico. The author of two published novels, both westerns: Dust Devil and The Second Mrs. Earp and two published works of non-fictions: TRAVESTY: Frank Waters Earp Agenda Exposed and A Church for Helldorado, Endicott Peabody's 1882 Tombstone Diary. One of the leading authorities on the life of Wyatt Earp and Tombstone during the Earp years, she is currently writing a series of murder mysteries set in modern day Tombstone. The author is also working on a book about fashion in the Wild West. When complete, there will be over 2100 unpublished antique photographs dating from 1855-1910.

The author's work has appeared in Wild West, True West, Blogcritics, and The Tombstone Times. Recently the author has had to deal with a father in Stage 4 Alzheimer's Disease. This is leading to a book dealing with the frustrations of dealing with the frustrations of the disease, finance, legal, health-care, and things no one bothers telling families about it.

SJ Reidhead has been involved in Republican politics since she was 'a little kid'. During the Reagan years she was a lobbyist working with various non-profit organizations who were attempting to salvage NASA and the American space program after the disastrous Carter years. Unfortunately, because of the libertarian take-over of the GOP, and the rise of the Tea Parties, as the Republican Party becomes more and more extreme and marginalized, it is impossible to remain loyal to the GOP. The Pink Flamingoremains GOP in order to try to bring the party back to what it once was. I fear it is an impossible task.

The Pink Flamingo went on line on October 4, 2005, after the author realized "normal" Republicans were being marginalized as the extreme far right attempts to become the new normal. In November, 2012, The Pink Flamingo, for the first time ever, voted for a Democrat, Barack Obama. Normal will never again apply to the GOP.

THE PINK FLAMINGO STORY

It started out as a joke. During the seven years I worked with the girls of my parish, leading a youth group, one of the things that I stressed were manners. Part of having manners, the way I see it, is to know how to set a proper table, host a party, cater it, and clean up afterward. I was fortunate enough to have a group of very talented girls in my youth group. They learned how to plan for, and execute large church functions, very properly. During one such function I noticed there were several incredibly tacky pink flamingos sitting on the table. Knowing the girls were up to something, I said nothing. A few months later they did the same thing at a function I was hosting at my home. I said nothing. They had a birthday party for me. More pink flamingos appeared - and a joke was born.

Thanks to the girls, all of whom are now grown, I have a collection of pink flamingos. It has become an ongoing joke. When I began working on my political blog, I realized the only possibly title was The Pink Flamingo!